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So this is some trippy ass, pinch-me-am-I-dreaming-? type a news. To put it plainly: I wrote a film with my good bud and creative partner Tim Kirk. It’s called SEX MADNESS REVEALED and it stars comedian Patton Oswalt and renowned magician Rob Zabrecky. It’s world premiering at the 2018 Overlook Film Festival this month in New Orleans. Holy. Shit.

To put it not-so-plainly, the film is a strange project that Tim and I have been working on since October 2016. It’s essentially an audio commentary that plays over the 1938 STD propaganda film SEX MADNESS. Similar to Tim’s DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY: TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN. Patton plays a podcaster and Zabrecky is the grandson of the film’s director. I also get a couple lines in there. Shit gets weird.

I went to school there (Salem State University class of 2005) and lived there for a solid 12 years. Made some of the best friends of my life and met my wife there. I was without a vehicle (aside from scooter the last two years), so I hoofed it everywhere and got to know the streets well. One street I walked nearly everyday was Gedney – the wholly unremarkable home of the towering post office, a liquor store, and an alley, pictured above, where my story takes place.

The bluntly named story, “A Bullet Hole in an Alley Wall on Gedney Street,” is part tragedy, part supernatural revenge, part Halloween tale. And I hope you dig it.

It’s the first image on screen after the roar of the MGM lion fades away. A blood red background with white block letters reading “Metro-G oldwyn-Mayer presents.” That odd letter-spacing between the G and the O, it’s there. Most people probably don’t notice it, or maybe they only register it on a subconscious level, but it’s there. Once you notice it, it has a way of burning into your brain. Punching you right in the cornea. Drawing your eyes like a flaming car crash.

Why though? Its very existence contradicts the film’s title. Point Blank – a gun fired very close to its target. Why have that subtly curious image (that we’ll call the “Space” from here on out) be the first on screen? Why place the gaping chasm between two letters in a major studio’s name at all?

John Boorman is still alive as of the 50th anniversary of his avant-garde masterpiece Point Blank, released in the summer of 1967, so someone with the means could go ahead and ask him. Like his film, there probably won’t be an easy answers or a sense of closure. But still, that small and powerful breach in the MGM name serves to subliminally defamiliarize the audience with not only the studio itself, but also with what they’re about to watch for next 91 minutes. It lets you know that something uncanny is coming your way.

Ghost Parachute is a literary magazine where they pair stories with original art, an idea I really love. That’s why I’m thrilled to have my new short “The Most Metal Band Name You’ve Ever Heard” in their July issue. The original art for my short was done by Kaylan Stedman and I fucking love it.

Also, my wicked talent wife has a story in the new issue as well, “Low Country.“

Head on over to Shotgun Honey and check out my new shortie “The Sucker.” It was inspired by the “Collar Bomb” bank robbery that occurred in Eerie, PA in August 2003. I’m fascinated by the fact that the dude with a bomb strapped to his neck took a lollipop while he was waiting for the teller to give him the loot. What an unwavering sweet tooth!